The Things They Carried Ben Cornelius The story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien is an enormously detailed fictional account of a wartime scenario in which jimmy Cross (the story’s main character) grows as a person, and the emotional and physical baggage of wartime are brought to light. The most obvious and prominent feature of O’Brien’s writing is a repetition of detail. O’brien also passively analyzes the effects of wartime on the underdeveloped psyche by giving the reader close up insight into common tribulations of war, but not in a necessarily expositorial sense.. He takes us into the minds of mere kids as they cope with the unbelievable and under-talked-about effects or rationalizing death, discomfort and loneliness as well as the themes of heroism, physical and mental pain, and a loss of innocence. Obrien achieves this through extended description, imagery and tone coupled with an intimate relationship with the stories main characters. O’brien repeatedly states what each soldier is carrying for two reasons. The first reason is character development. The more the reader knows about a character’s possessions the more he/she effectively knows about the characters themselves. An example of this would be how Cross carries a picture of a girl, fantasizing whether or not she is a virgin. Dobbins carries extra rations and his girlfriend’s pantyhose around his neck. This implies superstition and an above average weight. Ted Lavender carries weed and tranquilizers to placate his anxiety. This suggests an inability to cope with death or violence; perhaps wartime as a whole. Finally Kiowa carries an illustrated copy of the new testament and a knife given to him by his father. These possessions allude to the fact that he is a man of god with a respect for his father. I think it id ironic, though, that all of these men’s non-military items are of no real consequence in the war. They don’t do anything. It could be argued...

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...Personal Response
"The Things They Carried," by Tim O'Brien. At first it seemed to be just another war story. As I started reading I thought I was not going to have any interest at all in the story; however after I got into the story I found myself more interested than I thought I was going to be. This story is an excellent representation of war itself. It is very realistic and easy to relate to even without any personal experience with war. The...

...An Analysis of “The Things They Carried”
1. O’Brien’s story, “The Things They Carried,” is about a Lieutenant named Jimmy Cross mesmerizing and describing the memories he had of his fellow soldiers. Throughout the story, O’Brien talks about the love Lieutenant Cross had for a girl named Martha and the past stories of Lieutenants fellow soldiers. O’Brien went back and forth with Martha and the soldiers but most...

...The Things They Carried: Chapter 1
Significant Quote: “In the accompanying letter, Martha wrote that she had found the pebble on the Jersey shoreline, precisely where the land touched the water at high tide, where things came together but also separated.” (8)
Speaker: Tim O’Brien
Audience: The reader
Significance: This symbolizes Martha and Jimmy’s feelings for each other. They are separated by the war, but together in their minds....

...Connor Bickford
Prof Guy
ENC1102 A1
7 Mar 2013
Literary Analysis of “The Things They Carried”
“The Things They Carried” by Tim O'Brien depicts a platoon of soldiers serving in the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War was fought during the 1960/70's in the country of Vietnam. It was an unusually brutal war and many veterans suffered for years after from their traumatic experiences. The author tells of all the...

...The Things They Carriedanalysis paper
Themes in The Things They Carried
“In a story, which is a kind of dreaming, the dead sometimes smile and sit up and return to the world,” writes Tim O’Brien in his novel The Things They Carried (225). Throughout the story, O’Brien discusses themes such as death, the loss of innocence, and truth. Not only does O’Brien successfully thematically connect...

... “Story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth." This concept may be confusing to those who read Tim O'Brien's book, The Things They Carried, for the first time. By using a number of different literary devices, such as juxtaposition, paradox, metaphors, and metafiction, O'Brien separates truth and fact from one and the other in his novel about his time in the Vietnam War. He shows the truth of what he was feeling through the war and after without being...

...Literary Analysis of The Things They Carried: Metafiction
Tim O’Brien brings the characters and stories to life in The Things They Carried. He uses a writing style that brings stories to life by posing questions between the relationship of reality and fiction (Calloway 249). This is called metafiction and it exposes the truth through the literary experience. Tim O’Brien uses metafiction to make the characters...

...in The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
The narrator - Ultimately, The Things They Carried is more about its narrator than anybody else, and although it feels at times like a book about war, it is ultimately a book about the narrator's coming to terms with his past. Although the narrator is frequently called "Tim," or "O'Brien," the author and the narrator are not entirely the same person. Unlike O'Brien's work If I Die in a Combat...